It is generally known that the great-grand-father of
the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin was of
African descent. Beyond this fact, however, little
else is known about him. Much of the literature on
Pushkin provides only vague and contradictory details
about his African ancestor. By the end of the 19th
century, many Russian historians claimed that
Pushkin's great-grand-father was either a Moor from
North Africa or an Ethiopian. Finally, Dieudonné
Gnammankou, a historian and linguist from Benin, has
written a well-documented and insightful study of
Pushkin's African ancestor that corrects many
misconceptions...

In the late 19th century, Russian historians claimed,
without any firm evidence to back it up, that
Pushkin's great grand-father came from Ethiopia. They
settled on Ethiopia because they believed it was more
civilized than other parts of the "dark continent."
Influenced by Darwinian theories of race, Russian
historians had a difficult time dealing with Pushkin's
Negro ancestor; some claimed that Pushkin's
temperamental character was due to the African blood
in his veins. But in his biography, Gnammankou shows
that most of what Russian historians and biographers
of Pushkin have had to say about his great-grandfather
has little to do with the facts...

Gnammankou argues that Hannibal came from a village
bordering what is today Chad and Cameroon...he
provides strong circumstancial evidence that exceeds
by far the speculative claims that the Russian Negro
hailed from Ethiopia...

19th century Russian historians sought to square
Pushkin's essential Russian character with his African
ancestor. Unlike Peter the Great, many of these
historians were convinced that genes mattered more
than environment and were determined to identify how
Pushkin's African ancestor shaped his character.
Reflecting the prevalent racist conceptions of the
19th and 20th centuries, they generally assigned
Pushkin's negative traits to his African
great-grand-father: his love of gambling and women and
his hot temper. However, his poetic gifts and
intuitive understanding of the "Russian soul" were
ascribed to his Russian ancestry. But Hannibal's
examplary life exposes the obvious nonsense of this
interpretation; after his second marriage, there is no
evidence that he was a womannizer, and unlike Pushkin,
Hannibal managed his financial affairs well...

As for Pushkin, he was always proud of his African
blood; he never saw it as a drawback and in fact wrote
a sketchy biography of Hannibal and referred to him in
some of his poems...

Gnammankou has written an insightful and detailed
biography of Pushkin's Negro ancestor that works on
two levels. On one level, it is a historical narrative
that provides the reader with facts and dispels the
misconceptions surrounding Pushkin's
great-grandfather. On another level, the book reads
like a good detective novel, where the author seeks to
clear up the mystery of how and why this African ended
up in Russia. Both levels are superbly handed, and the
book as a whole is written in scrip and jargon-free
French...

By writing such a book, Gnammankou has set the stage
for future work on Blacks in the Diaspora. While
Hannibal was an isolated case in Russia, he was not
the only black who was taken as a slave and
accomplished remarkable things in a foreign
environment. Little has been written about the role of
African slaves in the Ottoman Empire, in the salt
marshes of Southern Iraq, and in the military in India
and North Africa. Hopefully, Dieudonné Gnammankou's
detailed biography of Hannibal will serve as an
impetus for this type of research in the future.

You know beloved, I know many of you do not approve of, nor understand my Afrikan Thoughts on politics and my Afrikan Thoughts on our Mentalogical Theology, so with that said, I will go ahead to say what I have to say regarding the content in this post.

The content in this post is very edifying to see being verified that which we should know about those other people that are different from us Black Folks and will lie about us and cover up the Truth about us at every opportunity they get, in order to keep us and the world conditional opinionated about Black Folks and our Quality as a Black Being.

Here is what trouble me about us Black Folks, it seem we always oblige ourselves to be placed on the defensive when it come to the topic of our quality as a Black Being, we seem to allow ourselves to always be placed in a position to try and prove our Intellectual worth in this world and our Target of persuasion happen to be all of those other people that happen to be different from us Black Folks.

My position is this about the quality of Black People, Nature as well as Natural facts have allowed the Black so call Afrikan Nation to not prove but verify ourselves as being the highest quality of Beings that make up this world and that quality is in the field of Social,Economic, Education, Theology, vocational, inventive, Culturally and Politically, and the proof that bear out our heritage of quality, is the evidence our First Way Ancient Cosmic Ebonite Ancestors left to us.

The Quality of the Black Mind is in the pyramids, the Labyrinth, knowledge we had of GOD, Universe, and ourselves, the supreme system of organized Civilized Living, our Ancient Ancestors Created and constructed, all serving as evidence that a powerful Thoughtful mind was in Action, so as for as I am concerned, we need not verify ourselves to A liar and Deceiver when it come to how they have behaved toward our Ancient Ancestors and now their Children.

Now, if such work of research is done for the edification of the Black World then so be it, but those other worlds know the Truth about Black People and that is what have made them to be committed to telling us first, lies about ourselves and second to the World in general about Black People.

Our Ancient Cosmic Divine Ebonite Ancestors knew that those other people different from us Black People would spread nothing but lies about the Quality of our Black Life and would be successful in deceiving the World and us Black people, that is if we did not obey and follow their instruction to us, their children, instruction concerning a Code that would lead us to the Truth about all things pertaining to the Black Life, with the Code being, Divine Being "Know Thyself", a Code we Black Folks have yet to crack and until we do, we will continue to allow ourselves to be placed on the defensive regarding the Quality of the Black Being Life.

What is more important today, given the condition of the Black World, is it defending ourselves against the Lies of those other people different from us, or is it more important for us to go on the offensive in doing all that is necessary to secure our Liberation from such Lying and deceptive people, they that have always been liars and oppressive against the Black World .

To me, I say, there is nothing no more important than fighting for the Liberation of Afrika and those people now calling ourselves Afrikans, running around trying to disprove all of the Lies that are told about us Black Folks, we trying to prove our Intellectual worth to a Lying world that speak nothing but lies about us and knowing that they are different from us Black Folks, still yet, Black Folks are yet to Divinely Mentally lock into such Knowledge of ourselves and as long as we are ignorant about ourselves, such a virus will maintain our Mental captivity.